TyeeTanic

Start at GPS speed = 2.5 mph. Make wide S turns. If fish hit on outside lure they want it faster, if it hits on inside lure they want it slower. Do this for about 15 to 20 minutes. If that doesn't work (no hits whatsoever), bump the speed DOWN first, to 2.2 mph. Repeat. If that doesn't work, bump the speed UP to 2.7 mph. Repeat. If that doesn't work, go to 2.0 mph, then 3.0 mph. Remember this only works travelling one direction. Once you change direction, you have to start over again. If you hit fish in an area, record speed and direction. Circle through the area again at same speed and bearing, and repeat.

We often put 4 dipsies in the water. That being said if it happens to be a rigger bite then we pull some dipseys and put more rigger rods in the water.

^^^ He's one of the good charters I know that uses Hummingbird. Was waiting for him to chime in. LOL.

Yup, consider a 1 mph current. Go in one direction into current at 3 mph GPS, your lure is travelling 4 mph in the water. Go in completely opposite direction (with current), your lure is travelling 2 mph in water. The only time GPS speed is useful is: - if there are no to little currents. - if you adjust speed and work a particular area and depth, and get hits at a certain GPS speed. Repeat the same direction and depth and GPS speed and you should more or less get back to the same down speed. Lots of guys without down speed do this. You can also watch the angle of your dipsey rods. Other guys use the "humm" of the wire or downrigger cable and are tuned into what the pitch should sound like. Old technology tied a 2 lb ball weight to a spare rod, and looked at the angle the line was entering the water. That would tell you average down speed (not at lure, as this method measures drag on the cable and ball, and so it measures the current from top to bottom, which can change).

Where are you planning to fish? When are you planning to fish? What equipment do you have?

Another thing to keep in mind is Transducer quality/brand and mounting. You can have a great head unit, but a transducer that is sub-standard, and especially any transducer that is not mounted correctly, is going to lead to a pretty dissapointing result. I use a transom mount transducer, and my friends use through hull mounted transducers. The through hulls seem to give a better picture. They can mark bait balls at much higher speeds than I can (30 mph vs. 10 to 15 mph). I think a lot of it has to do with prop wash, and interference from the chines - but believe me I have used the preferred location according to LOWRANCE. Secondly, watch your electrical install to avoid interference. Run a clean cable (with a fuse) from your battery to your head unit. Don't run it next to any other big electrical cables (engine cables). Keep the length as short as possible, and do not coil up excess (coiling up causing some pretty interesting electrical conditions, but will leave Electrical 101 for another day).

Raymarine good. Hummingbird good. Lowrance good. Simrad good. I wouldn't get hung up on brand. I use Lowrance, and it's great, but the raymarine is a great unit (my buddy has one) and the Simrad is great (my other buddy has it). I know some good charter captains that swear by Hummingbird, and I believe it is a good unit too. I would focus on features. INTERFACE - Firstly, touch screen gets you more screen for the size, but in terms of functionality I think I liked the Simrad the best, it had both touch functionality and then a cursor button on the side for quick zooming and moving, plus setting weigh points. It's nice when you're fingers are a little wet, and way more accurate than using your fingers. CHIRP - good technology. MAPS - yes to Navionics. Around our normal fishing spots, we don't really need the maps as we are familar enough with where the fish normally hold up. But in new locations, or locations we don't fish a lot out of (tournaments), it's good to have a map that shows the structure (1' to max 3' contour separation). CONNECTIVITY - does it have blue tooth/wifi tech that will allow you to connect/control from a phone or tablet? This will allow you to dual screen your FF on a second device (map on one, sonar on another). Why not mount the sonar at the back of the boat, where you adjust your rod depths, so you don't need to continuously ask "what are the depths?" SIZE - I discuss this a little below in PRICE, as the two are related. But go online and get the screen dimensions, than draw them out on a blank piece of paper. Draw all the units overlapping with a different color to represent each unit. You will get a sence for what size you really like/need and how much different even units in the same size range (5", 7", 9") are. Think about all the data you need to overlay on the screen (speed, depth, temp, voltage, bearing, etc.) and where that will go, and how much space you lose because of that. PRICE - you don't need to spend $2000, but I do find on the lower end of the price range ($500) you do get a lot more for your money if you are willing to just spend another $100 or $200, especially size. There is a big difference between the area of a 5" and 7" screen. Also one 7" screen isn't the same area as another brand's 7" screen, due to aspect ratio - wide screen vs. 4:3. Some will sell as a 7" screen, but are in fact 6.5" diagonal (it just happens to be the model that competes in the 7" size range). I basically take the specs off the websites and obtain the length and width, and calculate the area. Then take the price and divide by area, so you know truly how many $/sq inch you are actually paying, and it will shock you how different it is from one brand to the other, with similar/same features.

I just bought these and may refit the copper with them in the winter months. I bought them because a friend of mine uses them and he swears by them, hasn't had any issues to my knowledge.

Scott, if it works, I really want to go this way. The only reason I haven't used torpedo weights on the core or copper is because I thought I had to put it on the braid and let out another 100 ft of line, and that wasn't boding well, especially with braid in the water during flea season. If it works, then that's a game changer. Could have easily used that technique when the cold water was 100 ft deep.

What I was (am) worried about is it kinking (maybe not the right word) because from the rod tip to the dive bomb the line is under tension due to the weight/drag of the dive bomb. After the dive bomb the copper is free flowing, and wipping as you turn, enter currents, waves from the surface, etc. So you have a pinch point that holds the higher half solid, while the lower half flexes back and forth. I would have guessed this would ultimately lead to failure at that pinch point. But this is all theory, if someones been doing it for years and it is holding up, then that trumps the theory.

Don't fish when it's really windy. Need to be more specific, what do you want to know?

We just use table spoon of salt and sugar in river water. Let them cure over night in that and then dewatering and dry in a paper towel. Then leave in the fridge for another 12 hours to fully cure. After i spoon about what I need for a days fishing into seran wrap and twist it closed. I put all the sacks into a cardboard box filled with shredded newspaper. I have eggs like this that are 5 years old and still good. Trick is to dethaw them overnight in the fridge. A fast the in warm temperature will make the egg skin break and you lose a lot.

SilverFox, I would be worried about the copper kinking and breaking due to point fatigue. But that is speculation. You say you've been doing it for a while? Where on the copper, at the leader end or in the middle somewhere?

I've never had the knot come undone, but I've had 1 fly leader snap over the past 5 years, and it's probably because the leader had a fray in it. So I am not too concerned about their quality. If you have a concern, contact Tom Allen and let him know. He's a really good guy.

There is a protector that slides onto the display, which should help keep moisture off of it. My buddy has one.

Yeah, you want to weed out the guys who can't decide on anything. You want to reserve sea trials for those serious only. I would say request a deposit ($100 or so) and if they don't show or don't end up buying the boat (assuming it's in good working condition) then they forfeit the deposit. That said, you would want an offer subject to sea trial, and if a new problem comes up that warrants breaking the deal, well the guy gets back his deposit.

I've only run them on the backing, but not often. It puts another 100 ft of line out, and it's not good to have braid in the water with the fleas in full force. So, I've been thinking of using it on the end of the leader. But then that will dampen the movement of the copper in the water (which I think is one advantage), kind of will act like a dead weight. Also you would need a fairly long leader to keep that weight away from the bait, at least 30 ft. I currently use 15 ft leads on my copper. Keeps the drag down on this end of the line, so I get to the depths I want. So probably the best is to have copper, and then 100 ft of 30 lb mono (for fleas) as the first portion of backing to put the torpedo weight on. But then it is only advantageous if you use the 12 oz, cuda weight, as 100 ft of mono will chew up a lot of reel capacity, and if you use a lighter drop weight, well you may as well have put more copper on the reel to get the same depth.